This council study session was held on January 27, 2014. The meeting had three major parts. It consisted of a tutorial of how to use a new tool to find properties for sale within the community, a discussion of a new investment policy, and an evaluation of the impact based notification system.

The new technology presented to the council members was very hands-on and easy to use. It had many great features such as the ability to find properties, companies, and offices that are for sale in our community. You can also select what type of building you would like to purchase, how much you want to pay, and the amount of square feet you desire. Another great feature this tool brings is the ability to specify the location you want based on the demographics of each available area. This tool is a great way to pull data together quickly and research available places for sale. It is ultimately an effective business expansion tool as companies that are looking to expand can search for locations within close proximity to their original locations.

Next, the new investment policy was presented at the meeting. The policy focused on maintaining the comfort level of the council members. It would be a policy that keeps the safety of the public dollar and allows for the investments to have high liquidity. This policy has an average maturity of 2.5 years to see a return or loss of the invested money as it is a low-risk proposal. This policy will give council members the ability to decide what, how, and when to invest.

To wrap the night up, council members discussed the impact based notification system. This was an update to the policy presented at the January 6, 2014 study session. The problem with the old system was that it had the possibility of notifying one neighbor while leaving its adjacent  neighbor unaware of any developments occurring. With the new policy, there would be no need for the GIS system. Instead, it would take an impact based approach. The proposed policy would be more concerned with impact based residential notifications rather than commercial ones. The council members expressed their feelings about the policy, but the official decision on the implementation of this policy will occur during the next council meeting.